Herbicide applicator

ABSTRACT

An applicator for applying a liquid herbicide to lawns comprises a hollow drum having an absorbent, herbicide-permeable covering which is fed with herbicide from a supply thereof contained within the drum. Rigid with the drum at its ends are wheels somewhat larger than the drum to maintain the absorbent covering of the drum spaced above the ground. The drum has a hollow, rigid core provided over a limited segment of its periphery with feed openings through which herbicide within the core can reach the absorbent covering. The interior of the drum is sealed against communication with the atmosphere except through the feed openings, so that when the device is not in use and the openings are disposed either wholly above or wholly below the liquid level in the ground, escape of herbicide will be prevented. An appropriate means is provided for propelling the applicator over a lawn with the wheels supporting the absorbent drum-surface spaced above the ground.

United States Patent Ewing [451 Mar. 28, 1972 HERBICIDE APPLICATORBernard E. Ewing, 1717 S. Arlington Ave., Indianapolis, Ind. 46201 221Filed: May 14,1970

211 Appl.No.: 37,159

[72] Inventor:

[52] U.S. Cl ..47/1.5, 401/197 {51] Int. Cl..... ..A0lc 23/00 [58] Fieldof Search ..401/197; 47/1, 1.5

604,542 9/1960 Canada ..401/197 Primary Examiner-Robert E. BagwillAttorney-Trask, Jenkins & Hanley [5 7] ABSTRACT An applicator forapplying a liquid herbicide to lawns comprises a hollow drum having anabsorbent, herbicide-permeable covering which is fed with herbicide froma supply thereof contained within the drum. Rigid with the drum at itsends are wheels somewhat larger than the drum to maintain the absorbentcovering of the drum spaced above the ground. The drum has a hollow,rigid core provided over a limited segment of its periphery with feedopenings through which herbicide within the core can reach the absorbentcovering. The interior of the drum is sealed against communication withthe atmosphere except through the feed openings, so that when the deviceis not in use and the openings are disposed either wholly above orwholly below the liquid level in the ground, escape of herbicide will beprevented. An appropriate means is provided for propelling theapplicator over a lawn with the wheels supporting the absorbentdrum-surface spaced above the ground.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Patented March 28, 1972 HERBICIDE APPLICATORBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Herbicides have heretofore been applied tolawns in a variety of ways. The use of sprayers or dusters involves adanger that the herbicide may reach vegetation which it is not desiredto injure, such as flowers or decorative bushes. Solid elongated barscontaining a herbicide and adapted to be drawn over the groundfrequently do not distribute the herbicide evenly. In that method ofapplication, as well as in spraying and dusting, herbicide may reach theroots of standing grass or the leaves of grass just sprouting, where itspresence is usually regarded as undesirable. Another method of herbicideapplication, shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,642, involves the useof an elongated herbicide reservoir adapted for attachment to a lawnmower and having at its bottom a wick which projects downwardly andthrough which herbicide within the reservoir is wiped on the newly cutgrass. Such an applicator has a disadvantage in that the wick is subjectto undesirable wear and the further disadvantage that when the device isnot in use herbicide may be lost by dripping from the wick or byevaporation from the exposed surface of the wick. There therefore hasbeen a need for a herbicide applicator free from the disadvantages justnoted, and it is the object of this invention to provide such anapplicator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An applicator in accordance with this inventionembodies an elongated drum having a rigid, cylindrical core,conveniently a length of plastic pipe. Exteriorly, the core is providedwith a covering of an absorbent material which is fed with herbicidefrom a supply within the core through feed openings provided in thecore-wall. Desirably, the core is sealed against communication with theatmosphere except through those openings, which are preferably confinedto a limited segment of the core-circumference. At the ends of the drum,wheels are secured thereto, such wheels having a diameter greater thanthat of the drum so that as the drum rolls over the surface of a lawn,the outer surface of the drum will be out of contact with the ground andthe roots of the grass. A suitable means is provided for propelling thedrum over the lawn, such means being preferably adapted either forpropelling the device by hand or by attachment to a powered vehicle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a plan view of an applicatorembodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the applicator;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental view similar to FIG. 2 but on a slightly enlargedscale illustrating a detail of construction;

FIG. 4 is a fragmental axial section showing, on a further enlargedscale, one end of the drum and its associated wheels; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmental plan view of one .end of the drumcore.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The applicator shown in thedrawing comprises, as major parts, a cylindrical drum 10, coaxial wheels11 located at the ends of the drum, rigidly attached thereto, and oflarger diameter than the drum, and a handle-drawbar 12 by which theapplicator may be propelled over the lawn. The handledrawbar 12 may takedifferent forms, that shown comprising a yoke 13 having spaced arms 14between which the drum with its wheels is rotatably mounted. Thehandle-drawbar shown is adapted to be constructed of pipe, convenientlyVa-inch pipe, as is also the handle-drawbar, which is removablyconnected to the yoke by a pipe tee 15 located centrally thereof.Conveniently, the handle-drawbar is in two parts, an inner part 16removably received in the tee 15 and an outer part 17 removablyconnected to the inner part through a pipe coupling 18. At its outerend, the part 17 may be bent downwardly to provide a grip 19. If it isdesired to connect the applicator to a self-propelled vehicle, the innersection 16 of the handle-drawbar may be removed and the outer section 17attached to the tee l5 and connected at its outer end to the vehicle.For the purpose of effecting such a connection, I may employ a screw 21which passes loosely through the drawbar 22 of the vehicle into a nut 23welded to the end of the handle section 17.

Details of the construction of the drum 10 and its wheels areillustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. As there shown, the drum comprises ahollow, rigid core 25, conveniently a piece of plastic pipe of about 3inches in diameter. Each wheel 11 has a rim of a diameter such that itmay abut against the adjacent end of the core, as shown in FIG. 4, andin such rim a tire 26 is mounted. The wheels are firmly secured to theends of the core 25 by an axle 27 having threaded ends for reception innuts 28 which, when tightened, clamp the core between the wheels.Desirably, the joint between the wheels and the coreends are sealed witha soft cement or sealing compound 29.

As previously indicated, the core 25 bears a covering which is absorbentand permeable by a liquid herbicide. This covering may take variousforms, but I-prefer to use one which includes an inner layer 31 of afoamed, open-cell elastomer, such as sponge rubber, and an outer layer32 of a napped carpet applied with its base in contact with the layer31. The twolayer drum covering may be held in place on the core bystaples (not shown).

To provide for the passage of herbicide from within the core into theabsorbent drum-covering, the core is provided with a multiplicity offeed openings 33 which are preferably confined to a small segment, say60 or less, of the core circumference. In addition to the feed openings33, the core has a filler opening 34 provided with a removable closure,such as a pipe plug 35. Over the filler opening 34, the material of thecover 31-32 is removed to permit removal of the plug and the filling ofthe core. Preferably, the filler opening 34 is located within the samesegment of the core as that occupied by the feed openings.

For the purpose of rotatably mounting the drum and its wheels in theyoke 13, the yoke-arms 14 are shown as terminating in inwardly directedpipe-elbows 37, the threads at the inner ends of which are removed bycounterboring to provide a bearing for the nuts 28, which are circularexcept for diametrically opposite flats 38 provided for application of awrench by which the nuts are tightened to clamp the wheels against theends of the drum-core 25. Desirably, a sealing gasket 39 is providedbetween the nut 28 and the adjacent end of the associated wheel 11. Ifthe nuts 38 are not too thick, the drum and wheel assembly may beremoved from or replaced in the yoke 14 by merely applying a wrench or apair of pliers to the elbow 47 and rotating it about the axis of itsyoke-arm 14, the yoke having sufficient flexibility to permit suchrotation of the elbow 47 as is necessary to free it from the nut 28 itnormally receives.

With the plug 35 in place, the interior of the drum is sealed againstcommunication with the atmosphere except through the feed openings 33.Accordingly, and since the openings 33 occupy only a minor portion ofthe circumference of the drum, storage of the applicator with theopenings 33 either wholly above or wholly below the liquid level withinthe drum will not result in the loss of herbicide. Obviously, no suchloss will occur if the openings 33 are all above such liquid level; andif they are all below such liquid level air will be prevented fromentering the core and no liquid can escape therefrom.

When the applicator is to be used, the plug 35 is removed and theinterior of the core filled through the opening 34, whereupon the plug35 is replaced. Enough of the herbicide is reserved to be wiped over andthoroughly saturate the drumcovering 31-32. When the device is thenpropelled over the ground, the wheels and drum rotate bringing the feedopenings 33 alternately to the top and bottom of the drum. When near thebottom of the drum, herbicide escapes by gravity through the openingsinto the covering 31-32, creating within the drum a partial vacuum whichis relieved when the openings reach the top of the drum. Thus, it ispossible to keep the outer covering of the drum thoroughly saturatedwith the herbicide.

The inner covering-layer 31, which is preferably about V4 inch inthickness, is capable of storing a considerable quantity of herbicide initself and serves, together with the absorbent outer layer, todistribute the herbicide received from the spaced feed openings 33evenly to the outer surface of the drum. The tires 26 have a diametersubstantially larger than the external diameter of the drum so that, asthe device rolls over a lawn, the herbicide-saturated drum-surface ismaintained out of contact with the ground, grass roots and newlysprouting grass, and the herbicide is applied by contact to only theupper portion of the standing grass-leaves. Best results are obtained inmost cases if the diameter of the tires is about two inches greater thanthe diameter of the drum.

1 claim:

1. A herbicide applicator adapted to apply a liquid herbicide to lawns,comprising a cylindrical drum having a rigid, tubular core closed at itsends for containing a supply of the herbicide, said core having a porousherbicide permeable covering forming the exterior cylindrical surface ofthe drum said covering having an inner layer of foamed, open-cellelastomer and an outer layer of an absorbent fabric, said core having amultiplicity of axially distributed feed openings through whichherbicide within the core can escape outwardly to saturate saidcovering; ground engaging wheels for supporting the drum with its outersurface spaced above the ground, at least one of said wheels beingdrivingly connected to said drum to rotate the same, and means forpropelling the applicator over the ground, said feed openings all beinglocated within a minor segment of the cores circumference, whereby whenthe drum is disposed in a position with the holes upward, the drum willretain the liquid against escape.

2. An applicator according to claim 1 wherein the circumferential wallof said core is provided with a filler opening hav ing a removableclosure, said filler opening being located within the segment of thecore occupied by said herbicide passing the openings.

3. An applicator according to claim 1 with the addition that theherbicide-containing space within the core is sealed against the passageof air except through openings in said minor segment.

4. An applicator according to claim 1 wherein said propelling meanscomprises a yoke having spaced arms between which the drum with itswheels is journaled and a drawbar extending from the center portion ofsaid yoke and having a laterally projecting handle grip, said drawbarterminating in means for connecting the same to a self-propelledvehicle.

5. An applicator according to claim 1 wherein said covering comprises aninner layer of foamed, open-cell elastomer and an outer layer of nappedcarpeting.

1. A herbicide applicator adapted to apply a liquid herbicide to lawns,comprising a cylindrical drum having a rigid, tubular core closed at itsends for containing a supply of the herbicide, said core having a porousherbicide permeable covering forming the exterior cylindrical surface ofthe drum said covering having an inner layer of foamed, open-cellelastomer and an outer layer of an absorbent fabric, said core having amultiplicity of axially distributed feed openings through whichherbicide within the core can escape outwardly to saturate saidcovering; ground engaging wheels for supporting the drum with its outersurface spaced above the ground, at least one of said wheels beingdrivingly connected to said drum to rotate the same, and means forpropelling the applicator over the ground, said feed openings all beinglocated within a minor segment of the core''s circumference, wherebywhen the drum is disposed in a position with the holes upward, the drumwill retain the liquid against escape.
 2. An applicator according toclaim 1 wherein the circumferential wall of said core is provided with afiller opening having a removable closure, said filler opening beinglocated within the segment of the core occupied by said herbicidepassing the openings.
 3. An applicator according to claim 1 with theaddition that the herbicide-containing space within the core is sealedagainst the passage of air except through openings in said minorsegment.
 4. An applicator accOrding to claim 1 wherein said propellingmeans comprises a yoke having spaced arms between which the drum withits wheels is journaled and a drawbar extending from the center portionof said yoke and having a laterally projecting handle grip, said drawbarterminating in means for connecting the same to a self-propelledvehicle.
 5. An applicator according to claim 1 wherein said coveringcomprises an inner layer of foamed, open-cell elastomer and an outerlayer of napped carpeting.